Reading order
Neapolitan Novels reading order
- My Brilliant Friend2011
- The Story of a New Name2012
- Those Who Leave and Those Who Stay2013
- The Story of the Lost Child2014
1
2
3
4- 8.08.0 / 10615 ratings
- Score
- 4 volumes
- Volumes
- 2011–2014
- Published
- about 35 h
- Reading time
- Completed
- Status
- Historical fiction
- Genre
Quick answer
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Publication order
4 volumes2011–2014Completed
- This is not a cycle of four novels but one novel published in four volumes — read in order, from My Brilliant Friend.
- Each volume breaks off mid-story rather than concluding.
A plan for the whole series
4 volumes, 1,858 pages, about 35 hours. At 45 min a day that is about 6 weeks.
Stages
2 stages, with 1 short book from outside the series between them. You finish around December 17, 2026, 4 days later than in one go.
- Stage 115 h20 daysby November 18, 2026
- Short breakThe Fire Next Time · James Baldwin · 120 pp. · score 8.8
- Stage 219 habout 4 weeksby December 17, 2026
- The end of the series
We count 1.1 min per page, the pace of an average novel reader. Faster? Move the slider.
How this plan is calculated
The plan comes from the pages and ratings of each volume: we split the series into stages of about three weeks’ reading, size each break to the stage before it, and read the chance of finishing from how many readers rate the last volume compared with the first. How we work out the plan →
Every volume in order
Order checked by hand · Order and years: Wikidata (CC0). Spotted an error? Tell us. · Data updated October 29, 2026
Frequently asked questions
Which Neapolitan Novels book is the longest?
“The Story of the Lost Child” is the longest at 590 pages; the shortest is “My Brilliant Friend” with 256 pages.